ANNALS OF CLEVELAND

Abstracts 54 - 58
CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. I TO DEC. 31, 1838
BANKS & BANKING (Cont'd)
At a subsequent meeting of the Board, Leonard Case was re-elected
President, and T. P. Handy, Cashier. James Rockwell was appointed
Assistant Cashier, and T. C. Severance, Teller. (verbatim) (2)
54 - H&G Jan. 16; ed:2/2 - The bill to repeal the law prohibiting the
establishment of any branch or agency of the Penns!'lvania Bank of the
United States, has passed the House in the Ohio Legislature.
"The locofocos fought against the repeal of this bantling of Tin-pan
legislation to the last, by every species of party management." (1)
55 - H&G Jan. 22; ed:2/3 - The ARGUS gives notice that all the Albany
Banks have resumed specie payments.
"The notes of the Albany Banks have been mainly withdrawn from circulation,
so that the resumption as far as paying out specie is concerned
is more sound than substance." (1)
56 - H&G Jan. 25; ed: 2/2 - The Commonweal th Bank of Boston has closed
its doors.
"That Bank, it should be remembered. was the special Pet of the General
Government in New England. Its directors and officers were all
. 'friends of the Revered Chief.' •.•
"We may see in the instance of the Commonwealth Bank, a beautiful
exemplification of the maxim of the Van Buren party, 'To the victor belongs
the spoi Is.' The spoils have been dh;tributed, indeed, among the
mercenary victors. The spoils of the Peoples Treasury have served to
fatten and enrich: political bandits." (14)
57 - H&G Feb. 2; ed:2/3 - We learn by a letter from the Boston correspondent
of the New York HERALD, that the Associated Banks have concluded
to wind up three of the present banks in Boston.
"Bill holders and depositors will probably be paid in full, while the
stockholders will lose at least fifty per cent.... Two of the banks
whose doors are now closed, if not the third, are managed and controlled
by friends of the administration." (4)
58 - H&G Feb. 3; ed:2/3 - The Louisville JOURNAL gives an example of the
kind of paper discounted by the Commonwealth Bank of Boston, who obtained
a judgment on a joint note payable to the Bank and signed by the various
friends of the administration. The case went by default, and when the
Sheriff, who is a good Jackson man, had called the names of the defendants,
he asked the judge whether he should not call Martin Van Buren.
"There is abundant reason to bel ieve, not from this instance alone, but
from all that is known in relation to its operations, that the Commonwealth
Bank has been a mere party machine, - the very thing it was designed to
be, when the public deposits were removed and placed in its vaults." (6)
9